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Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., brushed aside President Donald Trump’s threat to withdraw Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination on Thursday, arguing the White House must instead honor what he says was an earlier commitment to win his vote.
“That’s his prerogative,” Tillis said about Trump’s threat to withdraw Blanche’s nomination.
Tillis’ comments come after Trump called out both Tillis and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Truth Social Thursday morning for blocking the president’s efforts to make Blanche the nation’s top prosecutor. He then threatened to pull Blanche’s nomination until the two Republican senators leave office next year — as Tillis is retiring and Cornyn lost his primary in his run for re-election.
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Tillis argued Trump cannot resolve this nomination standoff “unless we fulfill what we thought was the commitment from the administration.”
The North Carolina senator has withheld his support for Blanche unless the administration agrees to permanently eliminate the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund and rewrite Trump’s audit immunity language in the settlement agreement. Negotiations over those demands remain ongoing.
“The best thing is, take the win, get Blanche confirmed and get this agreement out of the way,” Tillis told Fox News Digital.
When asked what it would take to get Tillis to vote to confirm Blanche, he said, “exactly what Blanche committed to.”
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Tillis stressed that Blanche himself is not to blame for the impasse, saying he believes he “was honest” during his confirmation process and that he blames someone on Trump’s team.
“This is not Blanche’s problem. It’s clear to me that Blanche was honest when he answered without hesitation, working with us to end this,” Tillis said.
He continued, “I believe that one of the president’s advisors who were part of this agreement is the problem. And they need to own it.”
Tillis also pointed out that there is no certainty that the Senate would be any more accepting of Blanche next year, particularly as Republicans have more seats in danger than Democrats in the Senate.
“The best case scenario is you come back with the same number of people next year, and our members are not going to be any more supportive of this than they are today.”
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Trump could still keep Blanche as acting attorney general for months even if he withdraws the nomination. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act allows acting officials to serve for 210 days, and withdrawing a pending nomination resets that clock. If Trump were to pull Blanche’s nomination Thursday, Blanche could remain in the role until late February.
Despite Trump’s public threat, Tillis said negotiations with the administration remain ongoing and said he is “not a no” on Blanche.
“In this place, nothing’s ever as good or as bad as it seems, so we’re continuing to negotiate,” Tillis said.
Fox News Digital’s Alex Miller and Adam Pack contributed to this report.
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